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Sep 14, 2012

Review: essence peel off basecoat; only for peeling off?

Essence is definitely one of my favorite German brand. It’s not only they’re very cheap and super easy for access, but also because of it’s pretty innovative (and often fun) ideas. Peeling basecoat is one of such a fun product - even it’s same as similar to the PVA craft glue - which definitely help the easy removal of glitter polishes, for example.

I’ve seen many reviews for this basecoat already, so I won’t go for the “normal” review…Yes it helps easy removal of glitters, it peels off easily, but is that it for this unique basecoat’s purpose? My answer is, actually, NO. I’d like to add another use of peel-off basecoat, that this also can be used when you wear the hard-to-apply holo polishes, just as the aqua base!!

So today I’d like to show how it does work. Here, I’ve got ready for four different basecoats I commonly use. Jessica’s aqua base (Retro revival, which was combined with Jessica’s holo), Orly’s Nail defence as clear basecoat, essence’s peel-off basecoat (I used LE ver, but for sure it’s same as core line ver), and essence’s 24/7 nail base as ridge-filling basecoat.

This is how I applied to the each finger. As you can see, peel-off basecoat added white color on the nail, but it got clear when it’s completely dry. Aqua base and clear base (Orly) dried clear and smooth as well, while 24/7 base dried matte and velvety, just as normal ridge filler. Now after all the basecoats have been dried, I applied just ONE single coat of Jessica’s holo (Disco Diva)…

...And this is it. It’s very thin one coat, but as you can see here on small pic, there’s clear difference. But now let’s go a bit more closer;

The best result came up by use of it’s exclusive basecoat (index), but at least I think I still can say peel-off basecoat (ring) is working clearly BETTER than other two. Other two, I mean normal basecoats, did not hold the polish at all and made terrible bald spots/patches, whereas it did not appear on peel-off basecoat.And this difference went even stronger when I applied second coat;

...May I say poor middle and pinky fingers? :P They look so ripped off!! But not for index and ring, they are holding holo shade very well, keeping even and full coverage.

So I think I can conclude as “essence’s peel-off basecoat can be used as aqua basecoat for holos”. Actually this is not a surprise at all, that both aqua basecoat and peel-off basecoat is water-based emulsion basecoat. I must check INCI to get detailed ingredients, but well…at least peel-off basecoat works as well as aqua base (which may suggest that PVA glue can works as that too *hehehe* :P), and can be a cheaper & easy option to wear hard-to-apply polishes!! :D

Question: why did you strike out the possible comparisons to PVA glue? Did you also try that offline and it didn't work, or were you just protecting yourself from any weird legalese issues which may oddly surrounding the comparison? Just wondering because I've been using it for awhile now and it's like I've been reborn, lol I'm putting on a holo tonight (Butter London's Dodgy Barnett) and I'm toying with the idea of putting it on over PVA glue, or my standard base for my holos, Matte About You (I don't have aqua/essense holo-specific bases).

Simply because I'M NOT SURE!! :PI'm not going to compare with glue, I don't have such a plan, I'll pass such a trial to other people, but at least because of the result I got and my feeling, I THINK glue does work as well as aqua base for holos...but I can't guarantee :)

There's another basecoat that works with holos. It's Microcell 2000 Nail Repair. It dries glossy and smooth but so far every holo I own (Butter London, Color Club, no China Glaze sadly) applies easily over it. No bald spots :-)

Your welcome! :DI think formula of BL/CC's holo is good for all kind of basecoats; I have three CC holos (Revvvolution, Love 'em Leave 'em and Wild at Heart) and all works fine even on two basecoats (Nail Defense & 24/7) which didn't hold Jessica's holo here.CG OMGs are also hard formula, and most of super-strong silver has REALLY bad formula; they really requires aqua base, but peel-off base also works OK!! ;)

Thanks so much for this post! I searched the web and you had the best pictures, so I linked to your post on my own blog, hope that's okay with you!http://elle-hime.blogspot.com/2012/11/peel-off-aqua-base-coat-my-diy-tips.html